i believe that the penalisation part of the french law is hindering free speech and should be abolished.

Just to bring the matters back to earth, it is not a French law; it is just a vote in the French lower parliament to secure votes for some politicians in an upcoming election. Its chances of being passed into law are the square root of zero.

Well, it certainly goes to indicate that a politician's first - and sometimes only - priority is to get reelected. Cyprus is full of politicians like this, which is why the Cyprob drags on and on and on and on .......